A Generation of Cheaters

by Laura

This generation is put under a lot of pressure. Students today are the ones expected to take on the world and make it a much better place. Cheating is one of the biggest, most controversial issues in the world today among this generation, and happens due to a number of things such as tech availability, pressure from peers and college requirements, and people’s natural ignorance…. Cheating could destroy this generation’s chance to improve the entire world.

In a survey in 2006 done by ABC News in an attempt to find out the relevance of cheating, 60% of high school students said that they had cheated in the past. 35% stated that they had done it more than once in their entire education. But the question is, why is it that these high school and college students are cheating in the first place? In an article by ABC News about cheating, they quote an anonymous undergrad by the name of Mary- “a lot of people think it’s like you’re not really there to learn anything. You’re just learning to learn the system.” This shows how many students are feeling like they just need to get through school and end with good grades, and it doesn’t matter how you achieve that grade. In states like Georgia and Louisiana, certain schools force kids to get a decent grade on a test, or else they may not move on to the next grade level at all (Dolezalek 74). This creates pressure on kids, and instead of studying and trying their best, they just cheat to make it easier and take away some of the pressure they feel. When students try their best, they allow the risk of getting a bad grade. But when students cheat, they ensure the perfect grade they want.

            Many people may think that the guilt and the remorse a student may feel after cheating will make him or her think twice about what they are doing and stop. But, according to another ABC News anonymous high school student by the name of Joe, he states that he is “numb” to the idea of cheating. Students aren’t thinking about the immorality of cheating. They simply want to get through school with good grades, so they can have a good career, even if it means academic dishonesty.

            Students also justify to themselves why they are not doing anything wrong when cheating. They look at the leaders of the country and see the numerous scandals and financial problems that happen because of them, and think to themselves that if the leaders of the country can get away with cheating the system, than so can I (Gabriel 1).

            However, it is not just the student’s indifference to the issue that has caused cheating to increase rapidly over the past few years. Technology has grown rapidly too, and the availability of technology is a huge participant in the scheme of cheating. In most colleges and high schools, kids are allowed to use graphing calculators, in which they can download any information that is needed. Having the freedom and access to this device is necessary in most classes, but is one of the main ways to cheat (Gabriel 1). Although, most elementary and middle school students have the use of a cell phone, which enables them to not only find the answers themselves, but to share their answers they have acquired with others, creating a web of a number of people cheating off of one another.

            In Gabriel’s article on cheating, lying and plagiarism, she acknowledges a quote from Sarah Brookover, an undergrad at Rutgers University in New Jersey- “this generation has always existed in a world where media and intellectual property don’t have the same gravity.” She displays the idea that they, the students, don’t see taking someone else’s idea or answer as punishable, they see it as just “getting through school”, even if that means complete dishonesty, either in middle school, high school, or college.

            The fault, however, is not just the children and technology. In another ABC News survey, they found that well over 4,000 teachers in the United States and Canada have ignored cheating in their classrooms admittedly. For schools, standardized test scores are important to have a good reputation, and some staff and administrators are willing to allow kids to cheat and receive a high score on a standardized test to ensure that the entire school receives a good reputation for testing results. All of these causes, together, are how this generation, middle school through high school, cheat and plagiarize to obtain a neat little row of A’s on a report card.

            The issue of cheating may never be reversed- in fact it’s most likely never going to stop. Through technology, immorality and overlooking it, people are going to steal others’ work without a second thought. But there are genuine students in the world that will choose not to cheat, and produce their own honest work, despite the growing epidemic of cheating throughout the entire world.